Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Men's CAA Article By Rick PlattFor the third consecutive year, UNC-Wilmington came from behind to beat the William and Mary men’s outdoor track team for the Colonial Athletic Association team title. W&M had a huge lead after the first day, 84-44, thanks to their domination in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, but UNC-W parlayed strength in the sprints, hurdles, relays and decathlon to win the CAA trophy, 184-158, over W&M. Trailing in the team scoring were VCU (145), George Mason (106), Delaware (104), Northeastern (87) and Georgia State (26). The 2008 score was much closer, at 194 ½ to 190 for UNC-W. W&M has placed first or second 15 of the 20 years of the CAA championship meet. More

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Platt continues
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The highlights for W&M were wins Jon Grey, Brandon Heroux and Cam Shriver. Transfer sophomore Grey was named the CAA Track Athlete of the Meet with his unprecedented CAA double Friday evening in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. The only other W&M Athlete of the Meet was Matt Lane in 2001. Grey started by winning the 5,000 in an NCAA regional qualifying 14:11.91, ahead of teammates Ian Fitzgerald (2nd, 14:24.52), Colin Leak (6th, 14:32.23), freshman Zach Gates (7th, 14:32.44) and Christo Landry (8th, 14:38.12). For Landry (with a PR of 13:53.62 from 2006) it was his first race since the 2007 NCAA cross country championships. Fitzgerald has a 13:55.19 best from 2008, and both were All-Americans. In the later 10,000, Grey won in 30:06.17, followed by W&M freshman David Adley (2nd, 30:51.74), Leak (3rd, 30:55.43), Skeeter Morris (5th, 30:57.21) and Max Werner (6th, 31:03.53). In late March Grey (29:25.71 for #7) and Leak (29:43.65 for #10) had already run times making the W&M all-time list for the 10,000. Freshman Brandon Heroux has had a phenomenal first season, breaking the W&M school record (former mark 223-2 by Chris Parsons in 2002) and the CAA record (previous mark 206-6 by four-time CAA champ Andy Smith of W&M) with his winning 227-5 in the javelin, just four feet under the USATF national championship qualifier of 231-3. Undefeated this season, he again qualified for the NCAA regionals and the USATF junior meet, and is ranked #14 in the nation. Alex Heacock (177-5) and Cam Shriver (171-1, #10 on the all-time W&M list) were sixth and seventh. Shriver’s best event is the high jump, which he won at 6-8 ¾, W&M’s first win in that event since Gary Doyle in 1991. The 1,500 meters was disappointing time-wise (it was rough, tactical and unusually slow), but strong point-wise, as W&M went 2-3-4-5 with Chris Tyson (4:01.41), Brian Sklodowski (4:02.73), Cabell Rosanelli (4:03.90) and Peter Dorrell (4:04.50). Fitzgerald, one of the favorites, was spiked and knocked down on the first lap. W&M had five scorers in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with Bryce Wilk (2nd, 9:17.86), freshman Liam Anastasia-Murphy (3rd, 9:19.03), Peter Dorrell (5th, 9:24.41), Robert Sagar (7th, 9:32.87) and Harry Miller (8th, 9:33.60). In the field events, Kiernan Lofland was second in the pole vault at 15-11. Other top placers for W&M were Chris McIntosh in the 400-meter hurdles (4th, 54.76) and Zach Jordan in the hammer throw (5th, 160-8).